Employing Collaborative Learning Strategies and Tools for Engaging University Students in Collaborative Study and Writing

Abstract

This chapter addresses several issues and challenges that one faces when carrying out a real collaborative learning experience following a blended learning design that includes a mixture of face-to-face and online collaborative learning processes. The chapter presents an experience based on a blended course on “Collaborative Educational Systems”. This scenario employed a variety of collaborative strategies, methods and tools to support and enhance debate and information exchange among peers in order to complete a specific task: writing an essay collaboratively. Carrying out this task entails a preliminary study and analysis of the subject matter, which are also performed in a collaborative manner. The authors describe the educational scenario in detail, including the structure of the activities, the rules the groups were asked to apply and the procedures the students had to follow to accomplish the task. They finally analyze and evaluate this learning experience with a critical point of view as regards the collaboration strategies adopted, the way students built their own strategies combining the ones presented in the course, and the collaborative learning process and product.